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Black Herbal Toothpaste: I can't describe this



I like it!

I sometimes feel this way. As a black man working in advertising and all. Climbing seemingly insurmountable shafts, just to achieve meaningless objectives. Then to have the little joy there may be in it snatched away and then made to feel like sh*t for even trying. Then, oh boy, then at the end of the day I feel all mushy and slightly abrasive. Perfect for whisking away the plaquey mush.

I find this commercial very insightful. Black herbal toothpaste gets me.



Or have I grown rant weary? No fret, the web is loaded with angry black keyboardist. It's like a modern day Black bullpen out there. Sic'em guys!!!

The Assimilated Negro counts it off:

1. little white (copy updates w/ probably Asian) girl needs big black dude to monkey-climb the post for her balloon. honestly, I wouldn't flinch myself, but the black people-monkey allusions are still dangerously touchy territory in 2009 for anyone to be toying with in an ad campaign.

2. Making sure if you thought the gorilla climbing the tree was inadvertent racism, we have the crazy mother scooping her child up because a black guy in a tanktop and shorts just climbed 500 feet to retrieve her daughter's balloon ...???

3. Then with 20 seconds remaining in the clip, our poor balloon-fetcher returns to what appears to be his one-bedroom apartment in a suburbanish housing complex, where we find out he retrieves balloons and scares moms regularly, sleeps on a giant toothbrush, and turns into -- i'm guessing here -- herbal toothpaste. Ahh yes, makes me want to get those cavities out right now!

So i have no idea why, and i'm all a fan of going outside the box or whathaveyou, but this racist Donnie Darko-meets-Colgate approach to advertising just seems a little off the mark for me. But maybe this is what you need to do these days to get the kids to brush their teeth.
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7 comments:

shaun. said...

i knew you would be all over this.

Craig said...

I like it.

Kwesi Amuti said...

OK...I'm following the tag line "Appearances can be deceiving" and the abstract concept that a balloon retrieving brotha doing good for you can be equated to a brown "baby sh*t-resembling" toothpaste cleaning your teeth better...But I'm speechless right now...maybe it's from not being surprised at this at all or maybe because this ad has some really simplistic themes but overwhelmingly bizarre execution...I've been away for a while excuse me for a minute...

3L said...

It takes too much work to be get offended. Now I can see the monkey reference, it didn't help that he doesn't talk at all. Or the "appearances can be deceiving"; what's wrong with his appearance?

The commercial made me smile and laugh and pout with sympathy. I am a friendly 33 year-old woman; just two weeks ago I walked past a woman who had the sudden urge to clutch her purse in the grocery store. You can cry, get angry or laugh at the obsurdity. Life is short, I'll choose the later (most of the time).

Does anybody else feel like singing "Send in the Clowns", No? I guess that's just me!

Craig said...

@LnLL, true that. I like to get on this blog and be silly I am honestly not angry at most of the perceived offenses. However I do play watch-dog but, for the most part, I'm over a lot of these racial hiccups the world still suffers from. I think the most important part is helping us all to be a little better and calling attention to the tom foolery never hurts in that effort.

p.s. I do sing send in the universoul circus clowns though.

shaun. said...

those universeoul circus clowns sure can dance.

Craig said...

Thanks Sheela/Kaylee!!!